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Caterinia Blackmorn
Caterinia Soren-Blackmorn became the first Grand Duchess of Wolf's Crossing after marrying the last of King Jon Blackmorn's sons, Michael Blackmorn. Utterly ruthless, Caterinia was the driving force behind the Civil War in Wolf's Crossing that took place in 623 K.C. Appearance The product of two ancient Noble houses and descended from Royalty on her father's side, Caterinia's comely appearance can certainly be attributed to good breeding. Tall and well-endowed, she has the figure of a woman matured and is said to have aged like a fine wine. Her hair is long, cascading in soft curls, smooth as spun silk. A small scar resides just below her hairline, a memento of a past battle. Personality Proud and even arrogant at times, there is no denying that Caterinia is a woman who believes herself to be better than others. As the product of a union between two ancient Noble houses, she insists on being treated with the respect due to her high birth and station. A shrewd businesswoman and a cunning strategist, she believes that even in a world largely controlled by men, a woman should lead if she is proven to be more capable than a man of equal station. Well-spoken and highly intelligent, Caterinia can be quite manipulative when a situation calls for it. She believes strongly in the ties of family, be it through blood or by marriage and would stop at nothing to protect her own. History Eldest daughter of James Soren and Catlynn Sciorra, Caterinia was born with every advantage a child of a prominent house could desire. She was given the very finest in education and as a militant family, the Sorens insisted that all their children learn the art of fencing and the intricacies of strategic warfare. Tall for her age and quite strong, Caterinia took to such lessons like a moth to a flame. 1st Marriage and Children At the age of fifteen, she was wed to Henry Whitehall, then Earl of White Harbor and heir to the Dukedom of Dawnshire. The marriage was favorable for both houses and in spite of the difference in their age, Caterinia both loved and respected her husband. It was not long before their first child was born--a son, Henry II. Times of war made it necessary for the couple to put off having more children and it was not until Caterinia was twenty that her daughter, Merrideth was born. The Lioness Of Dawnshire Due to its proximity to Andorhal, Dawnshire suffered greatly under the might of the undead scourge. Caterinia was said to have fought side by side with her husband and his men while the scourge lay siege to Whitehall Manor. She was struck by falling debris when the largest portion of the Castle came crashing down during the last hours of the siege, and in spite of her wounds, refused to surrender. Having suffered two more minor wounds during a last stand in the East wing, she was later dragged from the Castle by two of her Knights to join her husband and Dawnshire was evacuated. Caterinia would later lead the reserve force of her husband's soldiers into battle against the scourge on numerous occasions while Henry and some remaining Knights of the Silver Hand fought to stop the scourge forces from marching East. Though she was not particularly skilled in single combat, Caterinia was a very successful battle commander and held White Harbor Castle through wave after wave of scourge onslaught. She was said to have given the following speech to the Castle defenders when the enemy emerged from the woods: "The sword of the apocalypse has left its blackened scabbard and death itself has come for us upon its pale horse. We will not run in fear. We are the lions of Lordaeron and lions do not cower in the face of death. We will face death with a roar of courage. We will look into the abyss of death's eyes as the Light itself transforms us into the wrath of the righteous and we will send death back to the fires of hell. This Castle has stood for centuries and it will not fall today." During the final battle, the Castle's cannons had fired the last of their ammunition and with another wave of the undead nearing the gates, Caterinia ordered the cannons to be loaded with shot and scrap metal from the Castle's forge. Though many of the cannons were damaged from using such material, with all twelve guns fired, they managed to destroy hundreds of the abominations before the infantry took the field and finished off the rest. One of her Knights, Sir Thomas Quinn took to calling her the lioness of Dawnshire and others soon followed. The High Cost Of Victory First held by the scourge and then the forsaken, after more than a decade in enemy control, the Whitehalls assembled a host and took back the city of Dawnshire and their seat of power, Whitehall Manor. Though the forsaken were driven out, Caterinia's son, Henry II was slain in single combat by forsaken Commander Blightheart. His remains were laid to rest beneath the chapel in the city of Dawnshire. The Death of Henry Whitehall and the Fall of Dawnshire Though the couple had not shared physical intimacy for nearly a decade due to the Duke's advancing age, Caterinia was devastated when she learned that he had fallen in battle at the age of three-and-sixty against the forsaken. With Dawnshire in peril, she moved her household to White Harbor Castle once more, where she now controls what remains of the Duchy with the help of her daughter. Despite the efforts of her Nephew and his paladins, the city of Dawnshire fell beneath the might of Commander Bishop and his host, the Bloody Dawn. Approached by the Thorns and the Blackmorns, Caterinia agreed to lead what remains of her forces into battle once more in the effort to retake Thorn's Reach. She and her daughter marched north with a small host and what artillery could be salvaged before Dawnshire's evacuation. Love and Relationships Though Caterinia loved and respected her husband till the day he died, there remained a great difference in their age and when it was that Henry could no longer satisfy his wife's ravenous appetite for physical intimacy, she was permitted other lovers. True to her word, she neither gave such men her heart, nor became with child, which would have brought shame to the house of Whitehall. Caterinia is known to have invited at least two of her Knights into her bed. Caterinia and her daughter are close and with White Harbor's proximity to Eastvale, the two see one another often. She and her elder brother, Varic Soren have remained close, often writing one another and dining together at White Harbor Castle when his duties permit. Caterinia remains at odds with with Hearthglen and Tirion Fordring. She is said to have entertained thoughts of freeing her Nephew, James Soren III, who remains a prisoner of the Argent Crusade. James is the current Earl of Winfield and the last male Soren. He was captured when Hearthglen was taken by the Argent Crusade. Public Opinion For choosing to retain her husband's name and holdings despite ancient customs, Caterinia is respected by many women, but also loathed by those who feel it is not a woman's place to bear her husband's arms. She is loved most of all by the people of White Harbor for sparing them from the horrors inflicted on much of Lordaeron by the scourge and the forsaken. The Argent Crusade despises her for the torture of several of its members that were captured in response to her Nephew's continued captivity. Civil War In Wolf's Crossing After the destruction of the remaining holdings in her late husband's Duchy of Dawnshire and the loss of her cavalry at the battle of Edenfield, Caterinia rejoined her daughter on the outskirts of Eastvale and planned to return to her Castle at Leone. Feeling betrayed by those she once thought of as allies, Caterinia was considering the surrender of the entire Duchy to the Kingdom of Lordaeron Restored until she was accused of treason and imprisoned by King Darion Blackmorn. Caterinia was later freed after a daring rescue made by her brother, Sir Varic Soren. After assembling what remained of her late husband's men, Caterinia led them in battle to take control of a newly-constructed holdfast on Wolf's Crossing's Eastern border, from where she launched an attack on Darion himself. Using a number of sellswords, she was able to capture him. The Siege Of Castle Blackmorn For three days and nights, Blackvale and Whitehall soldiers bombarded the Castle walls with cannon fire, only to have their numbers cut in half by the Blackmorns own cannons. With more than twenty guns atop its battlements, Castle Blackmorn proved to be far more resillient than they had anticipated. The Castle's defenders were led by Darion's Uncle, Jhorin Blackmorn, the Duke of Jonsport, who was appointed Lord-Regent of Wolf's Crossing after his Nephew's capture. The Fall Of Castle Blackmorn Just after darkness descended upon the Crossing on the night of July 3rd, Lady Caterinia resumed the siege of Castle Blackmorn with reinforcements from the house of Blackvale. With fewer than one hundred men in their host and after three hours of bombarding, the attackers managed to create a breach in the Castle's outer wall just after midnight. A bloody battle erupted in the outer courtyard when defenders under the command of Jhorin Blackmorn engaged the rebels. Both sides suffered heavy casualties and after suffering a grievous wound in battle, rather than surrender it to the rebels, Jhorin ordered his men to put the castle to the torch and withdraw to Jonsport. Despite the rebels efforts to contain the fire, Castle Blackmorn, which had stood for many centuries was largely reduced to a ruin in a matter of hours. Scouts report that Jhorin Blackmorn died of his wounds enroute to Jonsport. Victory Few could argue that her victory against the Blackmorns was cleanly accomplished and Caterinia herself will not deny the fact that she promised large sums of gold to the sellswords once loyal to Darion Blackmorn in order to bolster her own ranks, but it was her betrayal of the Blackvales after using them to lay siege to Castle Blackmorn that no one expected. On the morning of July 10th, Darion Blackmorn arrived at the Soren seat of Leone, where he was officially deposed and convicted of a list of crimes, ranging from treason and murder to polygamy by Caterinia and her Captains. Due to being convicted of polygamy, his child by Victoriea Holfmann (Darion Blackmorn II) was declared illegitimate, thus removing the infant from the line of succession. Despite the tyrany the people of Wolf's Crossing endured under his reign, many protested the hasty trial put on by the Whitehall loyalists on grounds that Darion's sister, Lorrain Blackvale was not present as initially agreed to and should have been the one to judge her brother. Darion was sentenced to death by beheading and brought to Callow Hill outside Leone's grounds just two days later, where he was later beheaded by Sir Willem Poole, a Knight in the service of the house of Whitehall. Those who attended the execution were shocked when Caterinia delivered the final insult to the deposed King and had him beheaded with his own blade, Light's Justice. Grand Duchess Of Wolf's Crossing Just two days after Blackmorn's execution, Caterinia called a meeting of the lords of the Crossing, during which she declared herself Grand Duchess of Wolf's Crossing by right of conquest and ordered all Blackmorns to surrender themselves at Leone to swear fealty or be arrested within a fortnight. Outraged by her declaration, a number of Blackmorn men drew their swords and were subsequently slain by Whitehall Knights, Sirs Willem Poole and Stephen Warwyk. After the brief violence, Caterinia went on to bestow the lands of Osric's Anvil, Jonsport and the East Watch to lords of her choosing. Outraged and lacking the swords with which to resist the Whitehall betrayal, Henry Blackmorn and all those loyal to him managed to escape Jonsport and marched to the ruins of Thorn's Reach, where they planned to regroup and lay siege to Leone. Checkmate In the interest of restoring peace to Wolf's Crossing in the aftermath of a bloody civil war and knowing she would soon be deposed without strong allies, Caterinia devised a way to please the Blackmorns while retaining control of Wolf's Crossing. Michael Blackmorn had been believed dead for nearly two years until he was discovered in Pinewood's Dungeons, captured by Lara Tolvan just sixty miles from Osric's Anvil. Seeing her chance, Caterinia offered to restore Osric's Anvil to Lara Tolvan in exchange for turning over Jon Blackmorn's only surviving male heir. Prince Michael was taken to Leone and offered a chance to restore peace by agreeing to wed Caterinia and rule together. Knowing that any children between them would rule Wolf's Crossing, Caterinia believed such a union would ensure peace for future generations. After a good deal of persuasion, Michael reluctantly agreed, knowing that without Caterinia and her army, the Crossing could never retain its status as a sovereign state. He did make several demands. To answer what he felt was a slight to his house's honor, before signing the betrothal, he demanded the right to challenge Sir Willem Poole in single combat to the death. In addition to the duel, it was agreed that Thorn's Reach must be restored to the house of Thorn and Jonsport would pass as intended to Jhorin's son, Henry. Desiring that only a child of his blood would succede him, Michael demanded that Caterinia's daughter by her first husband was removed from the line of succession and would instead inherit Leone. He also demanded that his sister's son's title and inheritence be restored, and that until their marriage produced a male heir, Tytos Charles Blackvale II (Lorrain's son) would be made first in the line of succession. Caterinia reluctantly agreed to all his demands. The duel took place at Leone on the morning of October 5th, 623 K.C. Poole made the mistake of choosing swords and daggers--a style Blackmorn had trained in since his youth. The duel lasted less than a minute and Poole was slain after being wounded twice. Light's Justice was reclaimed for the house of Blackmorn and would be held in trust for future generations. Immediately after the duel, Blackmorn signed the betrothal and summoned all the lords of the Crossing to Saint Varyk's Cathedral, where he and Caterinia announced the end of the civil war and their betrothal. Second Wedding Caterinia wed Michael Blackmorn on October 13th in a small ceremony at Leone's Chapel and a reception was held in the Castle's great hall just hours later. Many of those who were invited did not attend, including Erryk Thorn and Lara Tolvan. Despite the tension in the air and the awkwardness of the ceremony itself, Caterinia was satisfied with having secured her future. Known to favor men much younger than herself, the Duchess was rather pleased to have wed the twenty year-old Blackmorn. Known for her ravenous sexual appetite, one of her soldiers said in jest that her new husband would have to rule his Kingdom while chained to her headboard. Rising Tensions Despite the peace their wedding has brought to the Crossing, many wished to see Caterinia brought to justice for both the murder of Darion Blackmorn, and for stripping the lands and titles held by many of his supporters, which were later given to her own. Tensions rose between the two factions when Erryk Thorn wed his enemy Lara Tolvan, and began using her dowry to arm the tenants of Osric's Anvil, and later hire mercenaries from Stromgarde. Although Thorn insisted he was only arming their tenants in the interest of reclaiming Thorn's Reach from the Forsaken, he was ordered to disband his private army. Thorn refused. Knowing Thorn to be a renowned battle commander, Blackmorn took no chances, and sent one hundred men-at-arms to arrest him on suspicion of treason. By the time the Blackmorn soldiers arrived at the Anvil, they had missed Erryk Thorn, whose army of tenants and sellswords were nowhere to be found. Category:Human Category:Wolf's Crossing Category:Characters Category:House of Whitehall Category:Wolf's Crossing Peerage Category:House of Soren Category:House of Blackmorn